# New Savoy Desktop Humidor Humidity Question (Thanks in Advance)



## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

I purchased a Savoy medium desktop Zebrawood humidor yesterday.

I decided NOT to wipe down the inside with distilled water and instead I filled 2 shot glasses with distilled water and placed them inside along with a cigar mechanic gell bead humidifier, the stock humidifier and a boveda 72% bag.

I placed 19 cigars in the box (they had been purchased 2 days ago from a shop so they were in a humidor and I placed them in an otterbox cigar caddy during transport.

I have a digital hygrometer which is showing humidity at 72%.

My question is- when I open the box I'll see a drop from 72% down to 64% (kept open for maybe 4 minutes). Is this normal?

Is there anything else I should be doing??? I feel that the number one answer is KEEP THE HUMIDOR CLOSED!!!!

I did do a flashlight test and no light leaks out so that's a good thing...

Thanks in advance for the advice to a new humidor owner and I can already tell I'm going to be addicted to this!

-RR


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## StogieNinja (Jul 29, 2009)

Hey Robert, welcome to Puff!

First of all, good decision to not wipe down the interior, that can cause warping you don't want. If you haven't already, look at Herf-n-Terf's thread on proper seasoning. Take _everything_ but the shot glasses of water out of the humidor and leave it that way (without opening the humidor) for at least a couple days. It'll take at least that long for the wood to absorb a proper amount of humidity.

Second, get the cigars out. Right now you're intentionally over-humidifying the interior of the humidor by placing shot glasses full of DW in there in order to get the dry wood inside to absorb enough humidity to stabilize the interior. This also means that if you put your cigars in there, they will continue to absorb extra humidity - this will render them unsmokable.

Third, regarding the hygrometer, have you calibrated it yet? If not, search for "salt test" here and do that. You want to make sure it's reading properly. Once you've done the salt test and know how accurate your hygrometer is, ignore the reading unless it's been closed for 24 hours or more. It takes a while for the interior to stabilize, and then the hygrometer to take a stabilized reading. So to directly answer your question, yes, it's normal for a hygrometer to go all over the place when you open a humidor - it's trying to read a rapidly changing environment as the airflow from opening the humi changes the ambient rH around the hygrometer. Wait 24 hours, then take the reading when you first open the humi - if you've calibrated it properly, that will be the actual rH.

Fourth, I'd suggest looking into kitty litter as a humidifying agent instead of the boveda or the gel. (Do a search for "Kitty Litter Rocks". ) The stock humidifier is worthless. The problem with Boveda is that for a medium humidor, you'll need at least three boveda packs, and those get expensive, fast. The problem with the gel is that it's a one-way agent - it'll release humidity as needed, but it can't absorb extra rH. Kitty Litter will work both ways - it'll release humidity if it dips too low, and absorb extra humidity if it gets too high, and it's very, very cheap.

Hope that helps, and welcome to Puff!!!


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## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

what should i do with the stogies?

Will it be safe to just put them in a REGULAR ziplock bag?

I was under the impression that might be bad for them.


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## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

I didn't do a salt test with my digital hygrometer... BUT... When I was at the cigar shop, I did put it inside their walk in humidor for 15 minutes and it stayed consistantly at 72% (matched the stores digital hygro)... Is this safe to say it's accurate??

If not, I'll give it a salt test... but it makes sense that if it's reading accurate at their walk in humidor... it should be the same at mine.

Again, thanks so much.

I took the cigars out and put them in zip lock bags and threw them all into a tupperware container... I'll let the humidor sit closed for a few days, take out the water and see if it stays at 72%... if not, water goes back in for a few more days.

To clarify... its not bad for my cigars to just sit in a bag/tupperware? I thought I'd be doing more damage to leave them out than in the humidor.. Then again I'm in Santa Barbara and they're in my bedroom out of sunlight and humidity here is nice.

-RR


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## StogieNinja (Jul 29, 2009)

h20wakebum said:


> what should i do with the stogies?
> 
> Will it be safe to just put them in a REGULAR ziplock bag?
> 
> I was under the impression that might be bad for them.


It's better to do that than to put them in a saturated environment! It's not great long-term, but for a few days it'll be fine.



h20wakebum said:


> I didn't do a salt test with my digital hygrometer... BUT... When I was at the cigar shop, I did put it inside their walk in humidor for 15 minutes and it stayed consistantly at 72% (matched the stores digital hygro)... Is this safe to say it's accurate??
> 
> If not, I'll give it a salt test... but it makes sense that if it's reading accurate at their walk in humidor... it should be the same at mine.


The problem is, 15 min isn't enough to calibrate a hygrometer. You're probably fine, but I'd personally calibrate it just for my own comfort and assurance. I'm a little OCD, but I always say better safe than sorry! And, it's going to be a couple days before your humidor is seasoned anyway, so it's not going to be needed in the immediate future anyway!



h20wakebum said:


> I took the cigars out and put them in zip lock bags and threw them all into a tupperware container... I'll let the humidor sit closed for a few days, take out the water and see if it stays at 72%... if not, water goes back in for a few more days.
> 
> To clarify... its not bad for my cigars to just sit in a bag/tupperware? I thought I'd be doing more damage to leave them out than in the humidor.. Then again I'm in Santa Barbara and they're in my bedroom out of sunlight and humidity here is nice.
> 
> -RR


In a ziplock is ok, but the humidity will likely slowly leak out. However, the tupperware, if it's been washed and sanitized, is perfect, even for longer term storage. A lot of guys here use "tupperdors" -airtight tupperware containers lined with pieces of spanish cedar from cigar boxes- as their primary small storage instead of a humidor. I prefer the look and smell of a classic humidor, but the tupperwares do work well, and I have one for overflow/cheap stogies.


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## Matt4370 (Jan 14, 2012)

Great answers Derek! Always helpful. (See I do say nice things about you! ) only thing I can add/ask is, what digital hygrometer do you have? If its a caliber III then do not salt test it. You will need a boveda pack to check the accuracy of it.


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## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

Aninjaforallseasons said:


> It's better to do that than to put them in a saturated environment! It's not great long-term, but for a few days it'll be fine.
> 
> The problem is, 15 min isn't enough to calibrate a hygrometer. You're probably fine, but I'd personally calibrate it just for my own comfort and assurance. I'm a little OCD, but I always say better safe than sorry! And, it's going to be a couple days before your humidor is seasoned anyway, so it's not going to be needed in the immediate future anyway!
> 
> In a ziplock is ok, but the humidity will likely slowly leak out. However, the tupperware, if it's been washed and sanitized, is perfect, even for longer term storage. A lot of guys here use "tupperdors" -airtight tupperware containers lined with pieces of spanish cedar from cigar boxes- as their primary small storage instead of a humidor. I prefer the look and smell of a classic humidor, but the tupperwares do work well, and I have one for overflow/cheap stogies.


So, I took the shotglasses out and placed a larger dish in with more water.

Also, I'm doing a hygro test using my digital and analog hygro... I've read leave it in a bag with salt in the cap for 4 hours AND another saying 24... which is it?

It sounds like I should just leave the dish of water in the humidor for 2 weeks (to season) and THEN take out the water and put the cigars in... does this sound right (some said 1 week is good but that 2 weeks will be even better).

The B&M I bought it from did offer to let me leave it in their humidor if i wanted... should I take him up on that?

-RR


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## Matt4370 (Jan 14, 2012)

You should use a dish with a _new_ clean sponge, wet with distilled water. The sponge has more surface area to allow faster transfer of the moisture to a gas form. 
Leave the hygros in a sealed zip loc baggie for _at least 24 hrs._ They should read 75% RH after 24 hrs. Calibrate (if possible) and leave in the sealed bag for an additional 24hrs.

What type/brand digital hygro do you have?


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## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

Without reading every post thoroughly, I'll throw my tuppence in anyway.

First, congratulations on a fine box. Savoy is one of the few mass-produced humidors of which I approve 100%.

Second, shot glasses will take forever to release enough moisture into the air and then be absorbed into the wood. There's simply not enough surface area. Use new, thoroughly rinsed sponges. Put them on saucers, one on the bottom and one on the tray. It's okay to lightly wipe down the tray a few times a day, during seasoning. If the tray moves a little, it won't hurt anything. It's also okay to VERY LIGHTLY wipe down the floor, avoiding about an inch near the seams. Due to the fact that moist air rises, the floor is the last to season and the first to lose moisture. I cannot over-emphasize LIGHTLY!

Third, I think you're fine testing your hygrometer against the one in the shop. I recommend this to people buying hygrometers at my local all the time.

Fourth, putting your cigars in a ziploc for two weeks at a time is no problem. They might lose a few percent, but it's of no consequence. Most new cigars are badly over-humidified anyway.

Indeed, due to moist air rising, you will always see a pretty rapid drop in RH when you open the box. All that means is that the air is rising, but the wood isn't losing water that quickly. It takes quite a bit of time for water to turn to vapor and then move away. It's certainly best to keep it closed and open as infrequently as possible, but 4min wont cost you much. What does is that the "new" air that's entered the humidor will try to suck water from the wood in order to achieve equilibrium.


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## afilter (Oct 9, 2008)

Due to the fact that there is so much information in so many locations I tried to capture it all in one.

Tasting Notes: Setting Up a new Humidor

HTH,


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## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

Thanks so much for all your help.

Here's where I'm at.

I had purchased an otterbox 15 count cigar caddy so i put all my sticks in zip lock bags (each brand in it's own) and placed them all in the caddy. I figure this would be as air tight as I could get them (my tupperware sometimes leaks liquids so not air tight).

I put my digital and analog hygro in a bag and did a salt test. Started at 8pm last night. The digital is stablized at 76%. The analog was reading 70% so i calibrated (has a screw in back) and it's now reading 74% stable (it's off a few but still not bad).

The humidor itself is just sitting shut. I've got a boveda 72% bag in it (i had bought it the first day so might as well use it). Also, I have a bowl filled with distilled water in it with a paper towel. The 2 humidification devices (one gel beads one stock) had been filled with a propylene glycol solution at the store and those too are in the humidor.

Will i notice much difference in seasoning if I leave it for 2 weeks compared to a week??

Once it's been a week, I should take out the water dish, put in my hygrometer and see if the humidity stabilizes. I should also probably refill the 2 humidification devices at that time too.

Again, thanks for all the help on this new hobby, my GF hates it already!!

-RR


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## quincy627 (Jul 2, 2010)

One of my first humis was a Savoy. Initially, it was a bear to get the humidity to level off. After about a week of seasoning it was fine and consistent. Good luck.


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## h20wakebum (Feb 12, 2012)

quincy627 said:


> One of my first humis was a Savoy. Initially, it was a bear to get the humidity to level off. After about a week of seasoning it was fine and consistent. Good luck.


Thanks for the feedback... Any tricks/tips you can provide for the seasoning? At this point, I think i just need to keep the lid shut for 7 days and I'll be good to go.

I have been hearing 2 weeks is better... so I'll probably just keep the sticks in the otterbox and wait 2 weeks.

-RR


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## quincy627 (Jul 2, 2010)

Like the others have said, don't wipe it w/ h20. Just put in a couple shot glasses with h20 and let it work it's magic. Resist the temptation to open her up for at least 4-5 days.


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